By the Dawn's Early Light
by Abydosorphan
Summary: This was written for the wonderful Havocthecat for her birthday back in October. May be seen as a total AU or a tag to the sga coven livejournal community. Part 2 of The Coven Series
Striking the match, Kate lights the lantern on the table in front of her before turning to watch the sun set. Watching the flame flicker once... twice before blowing the match out.

Blasts can be heard outside, six pounders by the sounds of it, and the canon fire is moving closer. It has been all day.

Idly, she wonders why it seems she always winds up on the wrong side of conflicts. All she seems to do is try to avoid them.

Just under a hundred years ago, she had lived up north, moving south only when it became the solution to avoiding the mess that Salem had become. Before that, it had been Europe she was fleeing, hoping that the New World would be all that it had promised. But the mortal world always managed to add a catch; that extra kink in the fold.

Now a King's Army from three thousand miles away was trying to control the colonists it had long since lost control of. Kate was sure King George had every confidence in his men; every confidence in his victory; but the cards said otherwise.

The candlelight flickered as a small breeze blew through the room.

"You do always like to be right in the thick of it, don't you, Elizabeth?"

"And as much as you try to avoid it, you always wind up there through no fault of your own."

Kate felt the corners of her lips curl up into a tight smile, "It seems we're both nothing more than servants to fate."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kate watched as Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest. "Speak for yourself; I am a servant to no one and nothing."

Sighing, Kate turned to regard her friend.

"How did you know I was here?"

Elizabeth smiled, fingering the lavender silk drapings adorning one of the tables in Kate's small living area. "I have my sources, and you have a habit of leaving a distinct trail..." Her fingers danced through the candle flame, casting an eerie glow around the room.

"You like to live too dangerously..." Kate shrugged, "and most people don't survive long enough to notice my habits."

"I'm not most people."

"That, you definitely are not." Kate glanced at the kettle, which she kept endlessly prepared. "Tea?"

"Please."

Moving to the kettle and striking the fire, Kate dared to ask, "Have you made accommodations for the day or were you just passing through?"

Elizabeth was slowly making her way around the small house, looking at and touching everything within her grasp.

"I had planned on just passing through. Though the fighting causes enough havoc in the towns and makes night travel virtually impossible. And then I heard tale of a widowed farm wife in the area with the best crop the land has seen in years."

Ah, yes, well... some habits are hard to break."

Elizabeth leaned over the small hearth, running a finger seductively down the line of Kate's cheek.

"Keeping with something familiar makes the passage of time easier to deal with."

Smiling, Kate refused to back down from Elizabeth's touch. "It also makes it easier to remember the story and not trip over the constantly changing details. Though, eventually, change will be inevitable."

Elizabeth's lips gently caressed Kate's, trapping her bottom lips momentarily before releasing it with a quick flick of her tongue. Kate's eyes blinked open to find Elizabeth halfway across the room when it was over.

"Change doesn't have to be a bad thing."

The sound of the water boiling drew Kate's attention away from the glimmer in Elizabeth's eyes. Kate poured the tea and let it brew, trying to keep track of Elizabeth's presence throughout the house.

They sat drinking their tea in relative darkness, the soft illumination of the lantern their only light. The canon fire in the background a steady beat breaking through the silence of the night.

Kate smiled from her seat, the grimace on Elizabeth's face growing more and more animated with every sip she tried to swallow.

"You do know that there was no need to indulge me. I would have been perfectly content if you had declined a cup of tea."

"I keep thinking I'll come to like it." Elizabeth shrugged absently.

Kate's voice softened, "It's not really an acquired taste for your kind."

"Not much is."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Kate quipped.

"True," Elizabeth replied, leaning closer, "who would have thought I would acquire a taste for a certain witch?"

Kate smiled as Elizabeth closed the gap between them for the second time that evening. This kiss held more promise, though, Elizabeth's tongue demanding entrance to her mouth, possessing her fully. The brief flicker of thought went through Kate's mind and she wondered if a vampire couldn't possess you so completely if you didn't let them? Was it like the silly misconception that a vampire couldn't enter your house unless you invited them in?

Even before Elizabeth's hand found its way under her skirt folds, Kate knew that there was no way Elizabeth was leaving that night.

The path to Kate's simple sleeping area became a flurry of hands and clothes fluttering to the floor.

Elizabeth's lips moved away from Kate's as Kate divested her of her shirt. "Some century I'm actually going to get you to listen to me when it comes to fashion and interior decorating."

"I like to keep things simple."

Elizabeth gave Kate a slight nudge, smiling triumphantly as she fell across the bed. "This is beyond simple, dear, it's down right drab."

Kate flipped them, easily capturing Elizabeth's lips and allowing her fingers to toy with a nipple, "I'm not one to get caught up in material possessions."

Elizabeth's head tilted back, a small gasp escaping as Kate pinched the nipple slightly harder. "That's good; I rather prefer you caught up in other things."

Kate's lips trailed a path down Elizabeth's neck, her fingers tracing patterns across Elizabeth's stomach before traveling lower. She teased the patch of curls her fingers encountered, dancing along the smooth folds of skin before allowing her fingertips to land on their intended target. Slowly, she circled Elizabeth's clit while her lips followed the path her fingers had previously taken. The salty taste of Elizabeth's skin lingering on her lips as she continued toward her goal.

Elizabeth shifted beneath her, bending her knee and opening herself more fully. Kate was half lying on Elizabeth's other leg and as she moved closer the view before her became more obvious, less obstructed from her line of sight. Kate's fingers journeyed over Elizabeth's skin; circling her opening, tracing the sensitive skin until she moved back up to her clit. The small gasps and moans that Elizabeth allowed to escape brought a smile to Kate's face and she gently slid a finger into her while her thumb continued with the circular motions.

She's constantly amazed by the feeling of power she gets from having such control over such a powerful vampire. Being a witch gives her a certain sense of the way things in the universe are supposed to play out - somehow this never seems to be one of them, but it has and more than likely will continue to do so throughout the centuries to come. There are times she wonders if she purposely uses certain markers to make her easily identifiable should a vampire and her clan pass through the area where she happens to be at the time. There are times she thinks that half the fun in moving and changing and finding a new home is the thrill that she feels when Elizabeth shows up and throws her life into chaos.

Kate's fingers were replaced by her mouth, her tongue keeping up a steady rhythm against the bundle of nerves beneath it. With her mouth taking over her fingers were free for other tasks, her fingers are firm and directed as they enter Elizabeth, knowing just where and how to touch to get Elizabeth to respond. To get her to arch her back, toss her head from side to side once, twice, before her muscles completely convulsed and then she sagged against the plush, cotton mattress, one of the few luxuries that Kate allowed herself to indulge in.

Kate rested her head against Elizabeth's hip, her hand tracing lazy patterns against Elizabeth's stomach. She didn't get much chance to relax before Elizabeth's hand was threading through her hair, exerting gentle but determined pressure against her neck and urging her upward. Kate followed the lead, crawling up Elizabeth's body till their lips connected with bruising force, Elizabeth claiming Kate's mouth as if it were her own.

Slowly, they shifted position, first so that they were side by side, then so that Elizabeth was gently straddling Kate's hips. Elizabeth's fingers trailed lines down Kate's arms, making it known, without over emphasizing the fact, that Kate was no longer in control of the situation.

The canon blasts continued in the background, but they sounded a bit more distant, duller.

Elizabeth seemed to use the sound as a starting point, her fingers easily picking up the steady beat as they played against Kate's flesh. Their kisses slowed, as Elizabeth traced patterns, arousing Kate's senses with feather-light touches that would quickly become more firm and then move on. By the time Elizabeth reached Kate's legs, gently cupping her pelvic bone, Kate was breathing in small, quick gasps.

While Elizabeth's hands were driving Kate's synapses wild, her mouth moved along the line of her jaw and down her neck. Elizabeth's tongue flicked along the line of her jugular, accentuating the steady drum of her pulse through the artery, and Kate felt her lover pull back slightly when the tiny point of a fang brushed against her skin. Kate felt her muscles tense for a different reason, her pulse quickening as the nervous rush overcame her. Elizabeth's head tilted back down, her tongue carefully soothing over the area she's almost bitten, and she sucked lightly at the skin, her fingers quickening their pace causing conflicting rushes of arousal and fear to swell through Kate.

Tilting her head Kate claimed Elizabeth's lips, her fingers fisting into the blanket around her before she tilted her neck, exposing herself to Elizabeth completely. She knew it had taken a lot for Elizabeth to pull back just moments before, and for that reason alone she was willing to trust her with this.

Elizabeth's fingers seemed to take on an even more determined pace, Kate's hips jerking involuntarily in response while Elizabeth licked and ran her teeth over the most sensitive part of Kate's neck. For a moment Kate didn't think Elizabeth was going to actually complete what they'd started but as she felt her muscles contract, the familiar flutter of pleasure sparking out from low in her belly Elizabeth leaned back for a split second before coming forward with force, the needle sharp puncture of Elizabeth's teeth piercing her skin at the same time as her climax crashed through her.

The feeling of euphoria that overtook her was more than she'd ever experienced before and she had the fleeting thought of whether or not she would ever feel this way again before consciousness was lost to her.

* * *

Kate's eyes fluttered open as consciousness returned. Rolling to her side she looked around the small room for any sign of Elizabeth, not finding one she grabbed a robe and headed into the main part of the small house.

"It's a bit late for you to be leaving now, isn't it?"

Elizabeth turned from the door, her eyes down cast. "I should have left a few hours ago..."

"If you leave now there's no way you'll find shelter before the sun comes up." Kate leaned against the wall.

"There's no shelter for me here. Your simple farmhouse won't protect me from the sun."

Kate laughed lightly, "Since when have any of my residences been 'simple' anything's?"

Kate reached out and took Elizabeth's hand, drawing her back to the bedroom. "Trust me on this one."


End file.
